Hing-kay Oscar Ho
is participant at
A New Geography of Art in the Making
Abstract
The Other Side of West Kowloon
With references to the recent debates over the implementation of the West Kowloon Cultural District project in Hong Kong, the paper studies the tension between a governmental approach, which reflects a desire to adopt a globalized view of museum planning, and the actions taken by local communities, which are calling for recognition of local, grass-root cultural experience, especially the ‘collective memories’ of the ordinary people. Since the dismantling of the Star Ferry Pier and the emerging requests for preserving ‘collective memories’, the dichotomy between a vision for a ‘world class’ museum among bureaucrats and elitists, and the calls for the recognition of ordinary is best reflected in the exhibition Our Lives in West Kowloon. Featuring the poorest neighborhood of Hong Kong, which is also located in West Kowloon, the exhibition reveals a tension exists not only within the planning of the West Kowloon Cultural District, but also a common challenge in museum planning and building in Asia – the negotiation between the intensive differences between adopting a globalized model of museum and responding to local cultural experiences.
